From the album 'HOMMAGES', available on double LP at Bandcamp, and streaming everywhere.

Holly Roadfeldt - Piano

Hommage a Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) – The music of Hildegard has always amazed and inspired me.  Well, EVERYTHING about Hildegard has amazed and inspired me—the things that she composed, wrote, built, and accomplished—especially in an age when women were completely oppressed.  She is quite simply one of the greatest geniuses this world has ever produced, and it’s criminal that she’s not as well known as other male geniuses from her time (or later).  When I was thinking about this Hommage, I wasn’t sure how to approach it.  Then, one day (July 11th, 2018), I was doing some completely unrelated work, and out of nowhere, the entire piece came to me all at once, as in a vision.  Yeah, I know how that sounds, especially given Hildegard’s history, but that’s what happened.  The piece was written in one afternoon.

Hommage a Hildegard von Bingen (Official Album Version)

Holly Roadfeldt - Piano

Hommage a Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979) – I have been fascinated by Nadia Boulanger for a long time now. How did this person inspire and produce so many of the 20th century's greatest composers? After reading about her life, I think at least part of that dedication to composers was born out of her relationship to her younger sister Lili, and the circumstances surrounding her early death. From what I understand, Nadia was a great lover of the rigors of counterpoint, but also had the rare ability of helping composers find their own voices during a time of strict dogma in the composition landscape. This piece is inspired by Lili Boulanger's "Theme and Variations", and also by Nadia's love of counterpoint, and by her voice in my head telling me, "Just be yourself."

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Hommage a Nadia Boulanger (Official Album Version)

Holly Roadfeldt - Piano

Hommage a Gary Gygax (1938-2008) - Given all of the artistic and scientific people I've covered so far, why write an Hommage to Gary Gygax, the creator of the role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons? When I set out to write this series, I wanted to pay respects to people who inspired me to create. Gary was the first. I was introduced to D&D in the 3rd grade, and I became fascinated with it immediately. I used to sit in class drawing dungeon maps on graph paper instead of listening to my lessons. This was my first real creative outlet, and where I first encountered the mechanics of telling a story. For instance, if I drew a long hallway on the graph paper, and then drew in a secret door halfway down on the left wall, this in itself posed many questions - questions that I had to answer. Why is there a secret door here? What is it hiding? Is it an object of significance relating to the rest of the story? Is it a dangerous monster, sealed away forever? How does that relate to what the adventurers are going through? My 3rd-grade mind was sent wandering with almost endless possibilities. Through Gary's creation, I learned to craft a narrative - a skill that became invaluable in writing music. How could I not write an Hommage to Gary?

Hommage A Gary Gygax (Official Album Version)

Holly Roadfeldt - Piano

Hommage a Eddie Van Halen (1955-2020) – Eddie Van Halen, guitarist of the band Van Halen, was, simply put, the person that inspired me to become a musician.  I remember the moment vividly.  It was 1984—I was 11 years old—sitting in my dad’s recliner, listening to Van Halen’s album 1984 on his Walkman.  The beginning of side B (of the cassette) starts with the song Hot for Teacher, and features this blazing explosion of finger tapping from Eddie.  I heard that, and right then and there, I decided I was going to learn to play the guitar.  Much of the piece uses the tapping pattern that Eddie used in Hot for Teacher, as well as nods to moments from Jump and Eruption.

Hommage A Eddie Van Halen (Official Album Version)

Holly Roadfeldt - Piano

Hommage a Neil Peart (1952-2020) - One of my earliest true musical influences was the Canadian prog-rock band Rush. Considered by many to be one of the greatest rock drummers in the history of the genre, Neil Peart introduced me to many advanced musical concepts long before I stepped into the halls of a music school. These concepts included odd time signatures, mixed meters, metric modulations, thoroughly composed rhythms, and intense but metered virtuosity. I have always been captivated by his drum solo from their 1988 live tour release A Show of Hands. Neil plays a masterfully composed and executed drum solo in the middle of their legendary instrumental YYZ. In it, Neil created a simple melody on the glockenspiel in opposition and contrast to the thundering drum rhythms of the rest of the solo. It's this melody, the rhythms from the drums, and the YYZ Morse Code rhythm that I focused on in this Hommage.

Hommage A Neil Peart (Official Album Version)

Holly Roadfeldt - Piano and Looper Pedal

Hommage a Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) – Living life as a synesthete, Pollock’s work has always fascinated me.  Looking at these huge canvases, for me, is like setting off an explosion of sound in my head.  For this work, I wanted to try to represent that aurally.  Using his painting Convergence as a model, I assigned the various colors present in that work to different musical sonorities.  Then, I literally traced a path through the painting, and translated the painting into music.  The material on the looper represents the white/gray background, with the played material representing everything else sitting on top of it.

Hommage A Jackson Pollock (Official Album Version)

Holly Roadfeldt, Piano

Hommage a Hayao Miyazaki (b. 1941) – Miyazaki’s films have always been an inspiration to me.  Among my favorites are Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004).  Among his recurring themes of coming of age, war as folly, and having a strong environmental message, I have always felt this impending sense of inevitability in his storytelling.  In many of his films - Spirited Away in particular - the use of the clock as a metaphor is ever-present.  In this Hommage, I represent that feeling of inevitability through the metronome, as I tried to evoke the feeling of his films through the music.

Hommage A Hayao Miyazaki (Official Album Version)

This piece was written for, and dedicated to my wife, Jennifer.  I tried to create a story - a journey through music that followed and complimented this charming and evocative poem.

The players:

Jennifer Lanman: Voice 
Anthony Joseph Lanman: 8-String Electric Guitar
Paul Bro: Alto Saxophone
Nathan Rainey: Horn
Ted Piechocinski: Accordion
Beverley Simms: Piano
Sharilyn Spicknall: Violin
Kurt Fowler: Cello
Todd Gallagher: Contrabass
Jimmy Finnie: Vibraphone, Glockenspiel, Steel Drums, Suspended Cymbal, Cajon
Roby George: Conductor

Recording Engineers: Matthew Pauley and Don Arney
Mixed and mastered by Don Arney

Rhapsody in Blue Notification

jonkulp

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